Correlation between wear and thermal/mechanical parameters of Ti3C2Tx enhanced polyimide coating

Polyimide (PI) demonstrates exceptional thermal stability but suffers from limited wear resistance, restricting its applications in friction environments. Herein, we repot a mechanically blended Ti₃C₂T_x MXene-PI composite coating with optimized interfacial bonding. Leveraging the exceptional mechanical properties of Ti₃C₂T_x, the composite coating achieves remarkable performance enhancements. The experimental results reveal that the Ti₃C₂T_x MXene-PI coating shows outstanding mechanical properties, with hardness, tensile strength, and fracture stress values of 228.7 MPa, 64.46 MPa, and 40.55 MPa, respectively. Additionally, it exhibits superior thermal stability (T_g = 347.8 °C). Compared to the PI coating, the wear rate of the Ti₃C₂T_x MXene-PI coating under low and high loads is reduced by 47.34 % and 72.03 %, respectively, and the wear width decreases by 158 μm and 209 μm. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation results show that Ti₃C₂T_x has a higher binding energy with PI-precursor solution (−20.4 kcal/mol). This enhancement is attributed to the robust interface interactions between the abundant functional groups on the surface of Ti₃C₂T_x and PI, ensuring uniform dispersion of Ti₃C₂T_x within the PI matrix and achieving effective dispersion strength. This study reveals a significant correlation between the wear resistance of Ti₃C₂T_x-enhanced polyimide coatings and key thermal/mechanical parameters, offering new insights for the design of high-performance wear-resistant materials.